Dirty Little Secrets
by TracyCook
Summary: Damon Salvatore is a private detective in the 1950's, he is on the case of the murder of Elena Gilbert. All signs lead to one suspect, Bonnie Bennett whose boyfriend had been cheating on her with Elena. When Damon starts to form feelings for Bonnie he wants nothing more than to prove her innocence. Will he? Or will he have to watch her be locked away for murder? Bamon centric.


**Dirty Little Secrets**

By: Tracy Cook

Disclaimer: I do not own anything; these characters belong to the creators of The Vampire Diaries.

Pairing: Bonnie/Damon

Rating: M

**Chapter One**

_**-June 11, 1953**_

His name was Damon Salvatore.

He was a private investigator in the beautiful city of Chicago. He had worked on numerous high-risk cases, but this was the first case that he had ever worked alone. His partner had been brutally murdered during their last investigation and he was still waiting for his new partner to arrive. Damon never got too close to his partners, they seemed to always come and go before his very eyes.

It would get disheartening if he ever got close to any of them and then had to watch them die. So, instead he kept them at arm's length. He kept everyone at arm's length.

His job was his life.

Damon did not dare find a woman to love, out of fear that he would put her life in danger or die on the job. It would not be fair of him to even risk it. Instead, he drowned his sorrows in a glass of bourbon at his favorite strip joint every night. He could enjoy the sight of lovely ladies, but he did not have to get close to them.

Currently, he was heading toward his next assignment.

Someone had been murdered in downtown Chicago.

Reaching up, he tipped his hat down so that it covered his forehead and he glanced up into the rearview mirror. He caught clear blue eyes in the reflection of the glass and his lip curled up in a twisted half smile. Damon Salvatore lived for the adventure. Murder cases were his favorites. He loved investigating and solving the crime, more for the thrill than anything else. Casting his eyes to the road again, he tapped gently on the steering wheel.

"Don't let the stars get in your eyes." He sang to himself. "Don't let the moon break your heart. Love blooms at night, in daylight it dies. Don't let the stars get in your eyes."

O

Damon gripped the gun in his holster as he walked toward the apartment complex where the murder had taken place. He was always prepared for the possibility that the killer could still be at the location. On many occasions he had heard of officers slacking off on the job and the killer attacking them.

He was not going to allow something like that to happen to him.

With a furrowed brow he opened the door to the apartment complex and walked cautiously up the stairs, looking around for any sign of blood or force. Once at the top of the stairs he lifted his hand and knocked on the apartment door. He impatiently tapped his foot as he awaited an answer, and finally the door opened revealing a beautiful young blonde woman with a smile on her face. It looked forced, like she was actually sad.

'_This must be the roommate.'_

"Hello. You must be Detective Salvatore." She said, opening the door and allowing him to enter.

"Yes, Ma'am." Damon stated with a smile. "And you must be the roommate of the deceased, Caroline Forbes?"

Caroline nodded. The thought of Elena being dead shattered her. She couldn't even find her voice. They had been best friends for as long as she could remember and they had moved to the city together. She honestly could not imagine living without seeing the other woman on a daily basis.

"Where is the body?" Damon asked with an odd glint in his eyes. There was something about the man that Caroline didn't quite trust. He seemed just a little too excited to be looking into the murder case.

"Her name is Elena Gilbert." She corrected, her voice cracking with emotion and her blue eyes filling with tears. "And she's in the bedroom."

"Thanks, Barbie doll." He stated nonchalantly as he walked toward the bedroom.

Damon had been told many times that he was too harsh and cold about death, that he did not sympathize well with others in pain, and that he was blunt and inconsiderate with his words. That was one of the main reasons that he was not on the police force and instead was a private detective. This way, he did not have to answer to anyone. He could just do things the way that he wanted.

Caroline followed the detective into her roommate's bedroom. She did not trust him in the room alone with Elena. She was starting to regret not calling the police department instead.

Detective Salvatore was highly recommended though.

Damon took some gloves out of his suit pocket and pulled them over his hands. He did not wish to destroy any forensic evidence. Afterwards, he knelt to the ground beside the body and looked the young woman over.

She was a beautiful brunette woman who appeared to be approximately twenty years old. Her dark curls were a mess across her face and there was a hole where a bullet had obviously penetrated her forehead. It was a clean shot and there was not much blood splatter on the wall behind the body where she had been standing when she was shot. It was becoming clear to Damon that the shooter knew how to use a gun.

There were some stray strands of dark hair wrapped around her fingertips. Damon lifted them delicately and placed them into a plastic bag that he had brought to collect evidence.

Along with the hairs were a few bullets on the ground. He gathered them as well.

"If I may ask." Damon started, standing to his feet and putting the evidence away. "Where were you, _exactly_, when the murder took place?"

"I was staying the night across town with my boyfriend, Stefan." Caroline told him. "Elena and I had an agreement that when we moved in together I wouldn't be home much. But, I came home in the morning and I found her like this." Her eyes started to fill with tears again and her chest tightened painfully. She could not believe that her best friend was dead. That she would never take another breath.

Death was such a sick and confusing reality. One minute you are there and the next you are gone.

"And where does this Stefan fella live?"

"What are you writing a book?" Caroline asked with wide eyes. "Why do you need to know where he lives?"

"Everyone is a suspect until they are not. Got it?" Damon asked with a wag of his eyebrows and a sly grin. He looked so evil. But, the blonde supposed that he was merely doing his job and she gave him Stefan's information.

"Thanks, doll face. Now about Elena—" He paused and cast his blue eyes in the direction of the body. "—Does she have any enemies you can think of? Anyone who would want to hurt her?"

Caroline thought about it. "Not that I can think of—Oh! Wait! There is Bonnie!"

"Bonnie?"

"Yeah, Bonnie Bennett. She like totally used to hang out with Elena and I all the time, but then Elena started sleeping with Bonnie's boyfriend behind her back. When Bonnie found out, she screamed at Elena and told her she never wanted to see her again."

"When did this happen?" Damon asked curiously. It definitely sounded like a lead in the case.

"About a week ago. The two have been fighting non-stop since then." Suddenly she was hit with the harsh reality once more that Elena would never fight with Bonnie again, because she was dead. She would never gossip, or fawn over boys, or talk to her ever again. Her stomach flipped with unease.

"And who was this guy they were fighting over?"

"Kol Martin."

Damon wrote down the name of the boyfriend, he would have to interview both him and Stefan. But, first he needed to interview Bonnie Bennett and find out more about her involvement with Elena.

"Righto, and where does Ms. Bennett live?"

O

Bonnie Bennett was jolted out of what she was doing when she heard a knock at her door. She had been getting ready for work. Currently, she was only wearing a black tank top and a long skirt. Her long dark hair was curled and styled, and she had a scarf around her neck.

Hastily she made her way toward the door and called out, "Who is it?"

You could never be too safe.

"Detective Salvatore. I'm here to talk to you about what happened to Miss Gilbert."

Bonnie unlocked the door in a hurry and opened it. She did not know what had happened with Elena and she didn't want to keep the police officer waiting.

Upon opening the door, her breath caught in her throat. Standing before her was one of the most handsome young men she had ever witnessed. He was dressed up head to toe in a snazzy suit and tie, with a hat atop his head. His dark hair was long and shaggy yet well groomed, and his dark brows were furrowed in thought. What was the most stunning thing about him though, were his eyes. They were a gorgeous shade of blue that stood out against his porcelain skin.

He too, could not pull his gaze away from the beautiful young woman standing before him. Her long curly hair fell over her small feminine shoulders and the tank top she was wearing accentuated her perfect form. Her skin was the color of caramel and it looked soft to the touch, and her green eyes were bright and vibrant.

Those eyes could get anything that they wanted. And he knew that they had in the past.

Bonnie Bennett was perfection.

'_Well, aside from the fact that she is more than likely a cold blooded murderer.' _Damon reminded internally. He never got close to women who were suspects. That was just asking for bad news.

"You said you were here to talk to me about what happened to Elena?" Bonnie interrupted. She was starting to feel uncomfortable under his intense gaze.

"Yes." He pulled himself out of it. "Miss Gilbert was found by her roommate Caroline Forbes, shot in her bedroom this morning. Miss Forbes informed me that you and her were on bad terms. Something about fighting over the same guy?"

As Bonnie spoke, Damon once again found himself mesmerized by her and that worried him. She was even more dangerous than he had first anticipated.

"Yeah, the other day I came home to find her in bed with my boyfriend. I would never kill her though!" Her green eyes filled with tears at the news and she was starting to regret everything that she had said to Elena over the last week. She loved Kol and it had hurt her when Elena had slept with him, but she wished now that she hadn't hoped she would die. She had never meant for it to actually happen.

He felt unwanted sympathy for the young woman as she started to cry and held her hands to her face. He wanted to reach out and comfort her. Reach out and hold her tightly against himself, but he did not dare.

"When was the last time that you and Elena had one of these fights?"

Bonnie lifted her tear stained hands and whispered in a low husky voice, "last night."

She knew that it was going to make her look suspicious. But, it was the truth. And if he somehow found out about the argument some other way then it would only make her look worse.

"Last night?" Damon was shocked. Now she looked even more like the murderer. "Do you own a gun, Miss Bennett?"

"No!" She quickly dismissed. She had never used a gun in her life.

Eyeing her suspiciously, he took another step toward her and stared deep into green eyes. "So, would you care to recap exactly what happened last night with Elena for me?"

"Yeah, of course."

'_**Bonnie picked up one of the dishes in the kitchen and she threw it to the floor. She had never felt so angry in her entire lifetime. Elena had become one of her closest friends since she met her at the bar and then she had gone and slept with Kol. Now she wanted to fix it. She had called her over to the apartment in order to apologize.**_

_**It wasn't going well.**_

_**What started out as an apology quickly turned into a raging argument. Screaming and lashing out at one another. Elena telling Bonnie that she did not deserve a man like Kol, and Bonnie throwing her dishes around the kitchen and wishing death upon her. **_

"_**You know what, Bonnie!? You don't deserve a guy like Kol! He was never happy with you! He told me that he never really loved you and that he would leave you for me in a heartbeat!"**_

"_**He would never say that!" Bonnie screamed, throwing another dish.**_

_**Elena jumped and then regained her confidence. She lifted her chin up high and took a few steps toward Bonnie. "He did say that." She glared down at the shorter woman. "He said that the only reason he was still with you was because of the sex, and even that wasn't as good with you as it is with me."**_

_**Green eyes filled with tears and they streamed down Bonnie's cheeks. And that was when she said the words that she regretted. **_

"_**You are disgusting, Elena. I hope you die." With that she stormed out of the apartment.'**_

"And that's the last time that I saw her." Bonnie told Damon. She sounded genuinely sorry for her words.

"What time was that argument?" He could not tell if she was putting on a bit or actually telling the truth. Honestly, he wanted to believe that she was not lying, but he could not trust her on blind faith alone. He would have to prove her innocence.

"It was around midnight."

"Thank you, Miss Bennett. We will be in touch." Damon flashed her a half smile and tipped his hat to her in a polite farewell gesture.

Before he could get out of the apartment building, Bonnie reached out and grabbed ahold of his arm. He turned and looked down into her eyes and he could see the sincerity shimmering in the tears as she spoke. "You've got to believe me, Damon. I would never kill Elena. No matter what she did to me. I would never kill anyone."

He did believe her. But, he could not deny the evidence.

O

"Learn to drive!" Caroline shouted as she pulled out into the heavy traffic of Chicago. She hated driving in the city because people rarely obeyed the laws of the road. Young men were obsessed with drag racing and often got into accidents causing the entire street to get blocked off and traffic to get backed up.

"You learn to drive!" She heard a feminine accented voice shout from behind her.

Caroline let out a gasp at the rudeness and she quickly turned to glance around for any sign of the person who had yelled at her. What she saw was a young woman in a very expensive looking vehicle, wearing sunglasses and a smirk on her full lips.

"Get out of my way, you bloody American!"

She was British.

The other blonde started to honk at Caroline and she grew even more agitated, slamming down on her breaks. The British woman slammed directly into the back of her car. "Oh no she didn't!" Caroline screamed climbing out of the vehicle.

"Where the hell did you learn to drive, lady!?"

"That was hardly my fault! You are the imbecile who slammed down on your breaks!"

She scoffed. "That was completely your fault! You ran right into me!"

O

Damon propped his feet up on the edge of the desk in his office and he looked over the evidence that he had collected for the day. It appeared that most of the evidence was in one suspect's file. Bonnie Bennett. He scanned the photograph of the young woman and then he noticed something that he hadn't before. She worked at the same bar that Elena Gilbert had worked at.

He sighed loudly and pulled his feet to the floor, setting the file on the desk and looking it over closely. "It isn't looking good for you Bonnie Bennett."

The more evidence that he found toward Bonnie being the murderer the more disappointed he became. He wanted to prove that she was not the one responsible. That she was an innocent bystander and that someone else was responsible.

One thing he did know was that the bar was the next link in the case.

"Pardon my intrusion." A familiar accented voice spoke up and there was a knock at his door. Damon glanced up and witnessed a well groomed young man standing before him in a suit and hat, with a cane in hand. "I am Elijah Mikaelson. I was informed to meet my new partner at this facility."

His perfect demeanor was off-putting to Damon.

"Yeah, sorry, no time for introductions." Damon stood to his feet and walked past Elijah, stopping to look into his eyes. "Do you have your gun on you?"

"Of course."

"Then come on. We got a break in the case."

O

Authors Note:

Please tell me what y'all think! Who do you guys think the killer is going to be? What do you guys want to see for this fic? What did you think of this chapter? If y'all want me to add the next chapter soon please do leave me some encouragement and I promise to get the next chapter out tomorrow! Thank you guys so much for being amazing!

I love you all!

-Tracy Cook


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